Thursday, November 19, 1998

Abilene Aviators vs. Odessa Jackalopes

- When: 7 p.m.

- Where: Ector County Coliseum, Odessa

- Records: Abilene 14-3-0; Odessa 9-5-2

- Radio: KGMM 1280 sports

By JEFF WALKER

Staff Writer

ODESSA - There is a difference between a good rivalry and a bad one.

Based on what has transpired thus far in the Western Professional Hockey League, the Abilene Aviators are developing one of each with the Odessa Jackalopes and the San Angelo Outlaws.

The bad one continues tonight.

The Aviators and Jacks have had several encounters in their three previous meetings.

The first contest, a 4-2 victory by Abilene at the Taylor County Coliseum, saw the Aviators come from behind to knock off Odessa. More evident than the come-from-behind victory, was the seed planted for future Abilene-Odessa matchups.

"They sent (Rob Lukacs) after me," Aviators' goaltender Tony Martino said following the game. "If they're going to play like that, I'm going to retaliate. I'm not going to take that. I don't mind rough play, but when you do that it only makes me play harder."

Martino was also the focus when Odessa played host to Abilene last Friday. An Odessa radio station took phone calls during its morning show on the best way to take Martino off his game.

Reports had money offered and articles suggested to throw at the Abilene goaltender, though WPHL Vice-President and Director of Hockey Operations Brad Treliving said it didn't go too far.

"Fortunately for us we had our director of marketing in Odessa that morning and he was listening to the radio show," Treliving said. "They are a radio station that is well-known for doing extreme stuff like that. They had a member of the Jacks' staff making an appearance and they were talking about Abilene, complimenting them, talking about the rivalry and Tony Martino's record and that they had to do something to take him off his game."

Treliving said four tickets were offered for the best idea to take Martino "off his game" but he heard nothing of money or objects suggested to injure the goaltender.

"We never condone any rude gestures or signs or language," Treliving said. "From what I hear it was pretty harmless. I talked to the disc jockey and told him about the bounds that we wished to keep, but I think it just got blown out of porportion. Nothing ever happened from it, it never got above and beyond the radio."

Abilene head coach Jeff Triano, who was with the Jacks last year along with winger Donnie Margettie, said he doesn't understand the thinking behind the radio show.

"I didn't expect that from Odessa. There is a lot of first-class people there," he said. "The first time they came here there was a lot of trash talking and the first time we went to Odessa there was the thing with Tony Martino.

"I wonder what angle they were using with that, if they were trying to sell tickets or what they were trying to accomplish. All I know is we try to win and get two points against them and everyone else. I'm not going to get into any verbal abuse in the press or back-stabbing because I don't think it's right."

Odessa head coach Joe Clark, as well as Treliving, said the Odessa organization had nothing to do with the radio broadcast or its content.

"That's something for the fans; it's a side thing," Clark said. "Tony's a veteran and I'm sure wherever he goes the fans don't want him to be successful just like fans don't want (our goaltender) Billy Pye to do well when we come to their place. The radio thing is just a side show that we don't get involved in. That's for the fans and that's how the rivalry goes with them."

Pye was the focus after the Aviators knocked off Odessa for the second time at home on Nov. 5. Abilene won a thriller, 4-3 in a shootout, and, following the game, Pye made an obscene gesture to several heckling Aviators' fans.

Clark said there's no doubt a rivalry has developed with the Jacks and Aviators, as well as San Angelo.

"Most certainly," he said. "Last year it was between Odessa and San Angelo and now with Abilene coming on and having the impact that they have and being in the same division, I think it has added more to it and it's become a three-way rivalry."

Abilene's rivalry with San Angelo has been more subtle. The two teams met in the preseason and Abilene won in a shootout. Meeting for the first time last Saturday, the Aviators won again in a shootout, 3-2, in a game that featured only three penalties.

"I was talking to a reporter after that game and I told him this is a great rivalry," Triano said. "You have three teams that already have an existing rivalry because of high school sports and in a rivalry that doesn't always have to mean it's Fight Night.

"San Angelo was a great game and it was a great win for us. It was a strategic game and a well-coached game. Rivalries don't have to be about bad words and fist-fighting."

Following tonight's contest, the Aviators meet Odessa and San Angelo eight more times. Abilene will play host to Odessa on Feb. 6 and Feb. 28 and play one more road game in Odessa on March 12.

Abilene will host the Outlaws for the first time Dec. 10, and again on Feb. 5 and Feb. 27. San Angelo will serve as host to the Aviators on Feb. 18 and 26.

Jeff Walker can be reached at 676-6711 or sports@abinews.